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To: "Bruce Tefft"
Thread-Index: AcS0kySSChdBPRLEQbu8o9ie8LOH1AAbmsxQ
From: "Bruce Tefft"
Mailing-List: list osint@yahoogroups.com; contact osint-owner@yahoogroups.com
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Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 07:00:09 -0400
Subject: [osint] Screening of Protesters Unconstitutional, Court Rules
Reply-To: osint@yahoogroups.com
Screening of Protesters Unconstitutional, Court Rules
By C.G. Wallace
Associated Press
Sunday, October 17, 2004; Page A13
ATLANTA, Oct. 16 -- Fears of a terrorist attack are not sufficient reason
for authorities to search people at a protest, a federal appeals court has
ruled, saying Sept. 11, 2001, "cannot be the day liberty perished."
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled
unanimously Friday that protesters may not be required to pass through metal
detectors when they gather next month for a rally against a U.S. training
academy for Latin American soldiers.
Authorities began using the metal detectors at the annual School of the
Americas protest after the 2001 terrorist attacks, but the court found that
practice to be unconstitutional.
"We cannot simply suspend or restrict civil liberties until the War on
Terror is over, because the War on Terror is unlikely ever to be truly
over," Judge Gerald Tjoflat wrote for the panel. "Sept. 11, 2001, already a
day of immeasurable tragedy, cannot be the day liberty perished in this
country."
City officials in Columbus, Ga., contended the searches were needed because
of the elevated risk of terrorism, but the court threw out that argument,
saying it would "eviscerate the Fourth Amendment."
"In the absence of some reason to believe that international terrorists
would target or infiltrate this protest, there is no basis for using Sept.
11 as an excuse for searching the protesters," the court said.
Columbus Mayor Bob Poydasheff and Police Chief Willie Dozier did not return
messages seeking comment Saturday.
Michael Greenberger, law professor and director of the University of
Maryland's Center for Health and Homeland Security, said the ruling could
have broader implications if it is used to challenge aspects of the USA
Patriot Act.
It was surprising, he said, coming from the conservative-leaning 11th
Circuit, based in Atlanta, but the opinion was "very well reasoned" and
reflected "conventional application of constitutional principles."
The Rev. Roy Bourgeois, a priest who founded the protest group called School
of the Americas Watch, praised the ruling for safeguarding essential rights.
"I felt that they were using 9/11 as an excuse, along with the Patriot Act,
to interfere with our First Amendment rights," he said. "They are using this
to get around what the Constitution is really rooted in."
The metal detectors caused long lines and congestion outside the protest
area, he said, comparing it to routing 10,000 people through a single
security gate at an airport.
"It was not just an inconvenience, it was a nightmare. We couldn't get to
the place of assembly in an orderly fashion," he said.
About 15,000 demonstrators attend the annual vigil, demanding the closing of
the center, formerly called the School of the Americas. The facility at Fort
Benning was reopened in 2001 as the Western Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation.
The protests began in 1990. This year's demonstration is scheduled for Nov.
20-21.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38747-2004Oct16.html?referrer
=email
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